Category Archives: politics

In the furore about the vulgar, crude comments by Donald Trump in 2005 about sexual assault of women whenever he feels like it (and sexual assault is the correct name for his godawful conduct), comments which were made just after Trump married for the second time, having divorced his first wife after having an affair with his now new wife (and later dumping her for another trophy wife, Melania Trump, I have to ask – why are people so surprised?

This disgusting behaviour matches his record of misogyny and serial philandering let alone all the other dreadful, insulting comments he’s made about black people, Mexicans, Muslim people, prisoners of war, immigrants, veterans suffering from PTSD, a Gold Star family daring to criticise him, dithering over the use of nuclear weapons and so much more.

But let’s be honest – he’s not alone in his demeaning and disgusting attitude towards women. He’s the end result of Republican male office-bearers repeatedly behaving like complete shits towards women – legitimising rape; legitimising pregnancy through rape by refusing abortions; introducing or trying to introduce legislation to control women’s reproductive rights; treating women like mindless bimbos.

Trump is the spawn of the underlying racist undermining of the first black president, Barack Obama, since he was first elected to office. Republicans Federally and at State level have treated the president with a contempt which is unprecedented, fanning the flames of bigotry and racism which Trump is simply echoing. None of them stood up to Trump with his birthing crap, simply endorsed it by not saying anything. The Republicans have well and truly shot themselves in the foot – a bunch of selfish, Establishment-serving losers.

And so many of those Republican gutless cowards criticise Trump’s comments but don’t have the moral strength to withdraw their endorsement of him. Thank god some Republican leaders believe he’s crossed a bridge too far and refuse to align themselves with this sorry excuse of a human being.

But also I’ve been reading responses by women which brush aside his misogyny, make the argument that it was so long ago and can’t the media find anything else to say about him.

I do have to say that I find it unfuckingbelievable that any woman worth her salt would demean herself by still aligning with someone who isn’t a joke, he’s an absolutely monstrous, excuse for a human being – a greedy, rapacious, sexist, vapid, cruel, horrible, stupid bully and thug.

I’m simply no longer staying quiet because, while I believe in the strength of the sisterhood, I’m going to call out women who sell themselves right down the drain when they back a woman-hating thug like Trump because they sell out the cause of all women when they choose to belittle themselves before such a disgusting woman-hating man.

Trumpettes, the rapaious right-wing harpy Ann Coulter and other women still slobbering over Trump:

Where the hell is your pride?

Where’s your self-esteem?

Where’s your self-respect?

Where did the wild you were born with go?

How did your wild get so hopelessly lost?

How did you get domesticated and so tamed that you’d vote for a woman-hating thug?

I saw yet another politician in the past week state that attacks on the West are because Daesh/Al-Qaeda and other suchlike groups are deeply envious of Western ways of life.

I really roll my eyes when I see this sort of smug, self-satisfied, superficial and silly comment which is trying to pander to a domestic audience with superficial platitudes.

Because in essence it’s dangerous and misleading.

It totally ignores the real reasons behind terrorist attacks in Britain, the US and Europe which is that people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and so on are fed up to the back teeth with getting the shit bombed out them and, when ordinary people get blown apart or their homes destroyed, hearing that they are “collateral damage”.

When that happens, is it any wonder that people get radicalised and want to retaliate? Don’t we in the West start spouting “search and destroy” when atrocities happen?

And no, I’m not condoning mass murders wherever they occur. I am suggesting that, until we start to try to understand the roots of the massacres which are happening so often in so many European cities, those bombings and shootings will continue.

Look at the situation last week. In Munich, nine people were shot to death. The papers are full of outrage about these murders.

Yes, they are terrible. But what we are suffering in the West is nothing like the slaughter happening in other countries.

At the same time as the mainstream media in the West were filling page upon page with photos and comment about the Munich deaths, 80 Shia Muslims were killed by a Daesh suicide bomber in Kabul, Afghanistan. Muslim deaths merited small mention in the media, perhaps the odd paragraph in the international news section, reinforcing to those alienated by Western interference in their countries that Western lives matter a whole lot more than those who are dying in far great numbers due to the catastrophe unleashed by the illegal invasion of Iraq.

I know it’s hard to know what to do when the world looks in chaos. But it does seem to me that we ordinary folk, people on the street, can take small steps to build solidarity with our friends in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia by posting our sympathy and regrets on social media when atrocities happen in their nation to let them know that we stand in solidarity with them, they are not forgotten.

We need to stop automatically rushing to judgement and blaming Muslims for attacks by organisations like Daesh because they don’t represent Islam. In much the same way as we don’t blame all Christians for the actions of Blair and Bush who claim to be Christians and whose actions have led to the deaths of tens of thousands. We can support organisations which are helping shattered communities rebuild their lives. Or give a helping hand to refugees and asylum seekers – make sure your know the facts and stand up to those who try to spread ignorance, racism and hatred towards people driven out of their homeland by war, poverty, drought, repression, and so on.

And of course, we need to oppose war and fight for peace at every opportunity. Each of us, as individuals, needs to step up to the plate to take responsibility for what happens in our world. You can join organisations like AVAAZ, SumOfUs, Amnesty International, make donations to help causes which offer support for refugees and asylum seekers, support anti-war organisations, let politicians know what you feel and ensure they in turn know their actions are being monitored out in the community.

When we stand silent, we support the status quo and that status quo is in the process of falling apart.

When we speak up, we can make a difference to that status quo and contribute to a world where every life matters.

In the Chilcot report on the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the US and Great Britain, with Australia tagging along, and in all the reams of commentary about the contents of the report, there is a stunning silence about the real reason behind the war.

With attention focused on the then UK prime minister Blair and US president Bush, no-one is mentioning OIL.

It’s a bit like the Fawlty Towers episode where Basil Fawlty enjoins everyone not to mention the war when German holidaymakers stay at the hotel. “Don’t mention the war” he lectures staff while doing completely the opposite himself.

In the Fawlty Towers version of the Iraq War, however, it’s good ol’ whipping boy, Saddam Hussein, who occupies centre stage as the dreadful villain whose dastardly deeds demand that he be removed. And not one mention of OIL. Because that was the motivation, the real driving force behind both wars in Iraq and the subsequent sanctions imposed on Iraq by a US-dominated United Nations: the control of the oil resources of the Iraqi nation.

You can demonise Hussein for all your worth but, until the 1st Gulf War, Iraq was a country with great health services, good education facilities, modern infrastructure and no fundamentalist groups blowing people up left, right and centre. No, I know he was a dictator but the US and its allies have never worried too much about dictators (as in the US-backed right-wing dictatorships in South America or the Shah in Iran), the problem for Saddam-baby was that his country is sitting on top of rich oil resources, resources the US and other Western nations wanted to get their sticky little fingers on.

You could also add that the by-product for the mega-rich armaments industry was huge profits from the bombings on Iraq. Plus, let’s not forget, even more profits as they then had to replenish the arsenal unleashed on Iraq. And let’s also not forget the mega-million profits Halliburton got in Iraq, without due process of bidding for contracts, with its former vice-president Cheney involved in doling out the contracts (not forgetting Halliburton Corporation gave him a $34 million hand-out when he started his run for the US vice-presidency and, by the way, Cheney was opposed to removing Saddam Hussein from power after the first Gulf War!).

So while, yes, Bush, Blair and Howard were instrumental in unleashing the war, let’s not get suckered into a debate about the pros and cons of Saddam Hussein. He was the bait, the excuse for the war to conceal the real aim – control of oil.

I came across the poem below the other day and it reminded me of the many different directions my life has taken, none of it planned, much of it trial and error, but somehow I needed everything I’ve experienced to be the crazy, creative crone I now am, still dedicated to growing old disgracefully.

I am an Elder and I believe we Elders need to stand up and share the wisdom we’ve learned in our lives in a society which focuses on youth and tries to ignore the fact that we age and eventually cross the Rainbow Bridge.

I took a long time getting here,
much of it wasted on wrong turns,
back roads riddled by ruts.
I had adventures
I never would have known
if I proceeded as the crow flies.
Super highways are so sure
of where they are going:
they arrive too soon. A straight line isn’t always the shortest distance between two people. Sometimes I act as though I’m heading somewhere else while, imperceptibly, I narrow the gap between you and me. I’m not sure I’ll ever know the right way, but I don’t mind getting lost now and then. Maps don’t know everything.

~ Ruth Feldman ~

(The Ambitions of Ghosts)

Here’s where life has taken me:

* University where I studied French and German interpreting & translation

* Secretarial work in London for a German paper company

* Worked on a kibbutz for 3 months

* Travelled to Australia and worked as a secretary for the first two years

* Worked as a union organiser for the Australian Union of Students

* Studied Indonesian at the WA Institute of Technology

* Secretary in a children’s theatre group. Had conflict with boss.

* Administrative Assistant in a mining company. Had conflict with one of the bosses (who really was as nutty as a fruitcake!). The other boss was livid when I quit because of him.

* Operated a bookshop (which closed due to increased rent)

* Secretary in a union office. Had conflict with boss. Invalided out of the workforce with repetitive strain injury.

* Member of and organiser for the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) until I quit due to being too eccentric, independent, idealistic, too freedom-loving (hated all the backroom wheeling and dealing), and because I was developing into a spiritual seeker which overrode everything else.

* Realised I could not work under anyone else and developed my own line of work.

* Tarot reader

* Crystal worker

* Mandala artist

* Teacher of crystal healing, mandala art and living one’s dreams

* Kyboshed by fibromyalgia due to pushing myself too hard and burning out

* Disability pensioner

* Acrylic artist working with natural earth elements

* Teaching mandala art, Reiki, crystal healing, Tarot.

* Photographer of nature

* Digital Artist

(The conflict I’ve had with bosses over my various job incarnations was due, I realised when I undertook inner work, to my fractious relationship with my bullying, alcoholic father. I don’t take orders from others).

I realised that a dream I had recently, where I took a winding, unexplored road and ended up in a small cove on the Pacific Ocean and feeling enormously happy, was really a metaphor for the peace and happiness I’ve found since I’ve been living here in North Cyprus. I am happy to work at digital art as and when I’m able as I can release all the images buzzing around in my mind, heart and spirit. I still support social justice in whichever way I can given that I have mobility challenges now.

I am also content to rest when necessary and to enjoy sitting quietly with a dog’s head resting quietly on my lap, depending on which of our four dogs has muscled onto the sofa to sit with me. I love being near the sea. I love being near the Besparmak Mountains. I love being close to nature. I love being with my husband, partner, friend and lover of 38 years.

I have come to realise that life doesn’t need to be spent in the fast lane, that the lure of wealth can be a dead-end street, and most importantly, being kind, being a humanitarian, having love in my life and caring about others, the environment and being creative is what makes my world go round.